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FinalCall.com News
National News
A new wave of Pan-Africanism may be in the making
By Dionne Jackson Miller
Updated Apr 13, 2005 - 12:58:00 PM
KINGSTON, Jamaica (IPS/GIN) - For Jamaican poet and Rastafarian Mutabaruka, the question of whether Pan-Africanism is still relevant is almost incomprehensible, so obvious is the answer to him.
“It must be relevant, because most of the Jamaican population is of African stock, and we have never been able to forge that link between the Motherland and the Caribbean,” he told IPS. “It’s very important to decide on our next step (to develop) a South-South relationship, because we’ve always been looking to the North.”
Pan-Africanism is, in one sense, a united movement of countries on the African continent. But in the wider sense, it encompasses a collective consciousness of all peoples of African descent. Many Pan-Africanists look to the teachings of Jamaican national hero Marcus Garvey, who advocated closer links with Africa as far back as the early 1900s, and rallied thousands with his messages of Black pride and empowerment, at a time when Black people were anything but empowered.
“Marcus Garvey, as the father of Pan-Africanism, always tried to forge that link—that’s why he started the Black Star shipping line,” said Mutabaruka. “Politicians, people don’t see the necessity to deal with Africa because they say Africa is not a place of development.”
The artist further asserted that, “They have always been looking at it as an underdeveloped continent, so the need to form links wasn’t as important.”
Nevertheless, “Rastafarians have always been saying that it is necessary to always look to Africa,” continued Mutabaruka, whose dub poetry, that is, poetry—performed to Jamaican reggae music—strongly affirms the African experience.
Globally, there has been a renewed focus on Africa over the past few years. Much of the media attention has been grabbed by developed countries pushing ambitious agendas. The small countries of the Caribbean are also now eager to strengthen the historical and cultural links that have always existed between the region and the African continent, and to translate them into more meaningful collaborations in an age of shifting trade alliances and increasing challenges for developing nations.
The idea is to deepen and strengthen existing areas of collaboration, such as that established through the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, which negotiates trade deals with the European Union.
At a recent conference organized by Caribbean countries and the African Union, delegates recommended that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) confer observer status on the African Union, and vice versa, and that an Africa-Caribbean Commission be established to centralize efforts to build the relationship.
Ralph Gonzalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, has an overarching vision for a new era of cooperation between the Caribbean and Africa, which would also encompass Brazil, home to the largest number of Black people outside the African continent.
He wants to see vastly increased trade and travel links, as well as cooperation in cultural, sporting, educational and health programs. Realization of these objectives should start with the establishment of a “permanent commission between Africa, the Caribbean and Brazil.”
“It is right (to do it) now,” Mr. Gonzalves says. “First of all there is a new leadership in Africa. There is a leadership within the Caribbean, which is receptive to those ideas. There is Lula in Brazil (President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva), and the international circumstances are such (that) we need the space. It’s a response by people who have been locked out of the system.”
While it is very important to increase the linkages between the continent and the Caribbean, it is also vital to view the issues in a practical light, says South African Arts and Culture Minister Zweledinga Pallo Jordan.
“You don’t easily establish air links and shipping links unless there’s something to carry. You don’t want to have empty planes between the Caribbean and Africa,” he argues. “To the extent that there are trade links, business links, sporting links, cultural links, travel links, tourism links between the continent and the Caribbean, so too (air and shipping) will grow organically; you won’t be able to just wish it into existence,” he cautions.
At the same time, the shifting global trading arrangements that have impoverished many developing countries have made increased cooperation more important, he says. The increased desire for collaboration is an indication of a deeper process, he says, noting that the base of the Diaspora’s identification with the African continent has been demonstrated over the years.
Although the political landscape has changed, serious challenges remain that necessitate collective action, he argues.
“Given the sort of power that is mustered by the people who stand opposed to us, or that we have to contend with, I don’t think any individual African country or Caribbean country can take it on its own. We need to use our collective strength in order to face these problems,” Mr. Jordan says. “A small country like Jamaica trying to take on developed countries on its own because of unfair trade relations doesn’t stand a hope in hell, but if you’ve got collective strength of the entire African continent and all the countries of the Caribbean and others with you, it’s easy to take on that particular challenge.”
